Ways to Say Hello
by Caffeine Induced
Summary: A collection of one-shots about different ways Raven and the Titans learn about Red-X's identity as Jason Todd. (Feel free to use these in your stories or as inspiration, PM me though, I want to read them!)
1. Concern

**ONE**

**Concern**

As usual, it's not Raven's internal timer that snaps her out of her meditation but the crime alert. With a sigh she gently touches down and a loud banging starts on her bedroom door.

"Raven, we can't waste any time!" Robin shouts.

The door slides open on her command and reveals Robin's determined expression. The other Titans quickly come up behind him, all of them looking at Raven--ready for her to teleport them.

Teleporting all four of them takes up a hefty bit of energy so Robin often has her save it for emergencies only. There are few people who can warrant her taking them immediately to the scene of a crime.

"Slade?" she asks, dread coiling in her stomach.

"Red X, at the jewelers on 5th."

Number two on Robin's shit list. Mostly because his pride is still wounded from getting that costume stolen from under his nose. Other than that, Red-X's heists can be described as petty crimes.

For Raven, the biggest interest is how he's managed to continually evade capture.

Jumping into action Raven's shadows pool out from under her cloak and engulf her team. When she pulls back they're standing right outside the jewelers.

Through the glass doors they see the chaos of a dozen employees realizing they've been robbed. Robin points to the top of the building. "He's on the roof. Titans, go!"

They spur into action, each of them using their various methods to get onto the roof. By the time they get up, he's already jumping to the next roof and the next.

The chase is on but Cyborg has the hardest time keeping up and soon gets left behind. When Red X realizes the others aren't going to be as easy to loose he skids to a halt and turns to fight them instead.

"Surrender Red-X and return what you stole," Robin commands.

"Has that ever actually worked?" Red-X asks. "I don't respond well to commands, I imagine most criminals don't. Maybe if the redhead asked me, _really politely_."

In typical Robin fashion, he charges Red-X, swinging his staff and trying to catch his opponent off guard with a fast kick. Red-X blocks the hit and shoves Robin back in time to dodge Beastboy and throw a sticky bomb at him in passing.

Raven rolls her eyes. How many times will Red X come at them with the same old tricks? And how many times will Beastboy fall for the same one?

Starfire expects Red-X's attack when she charges him and even though he manages to knock her off balance, Raven can feel he's surprised at how well she holds her own.

"Someone's been practicing," he says to Starfire. "I'm flattered you've been thinking about me."

Raven goes at him next. He hurls a sticky 'X' at her but she catches it and throws it right back at him. It has no effect of course but he looks ridiculous with it sticking to his forehead.

"You're predictable," Raven tells him, Starfire voices her agreement as she charges him, the pair attacking together.

Red-X's combative skills have always outmatched theirs so he keeps up with them easily but at one point, after twisting away from Starfire and knocking Raven away, he turns to the empty space behind him, raising a hand to block a hit that doesn't come.

"Pro tip Robin . . ." Red-X's quip falls short.

For a weird second, Red-X, Starfire, and Raven pause. The lull in the fighting makes them realize Robin hasn't jumped in to help as they expected.

"Robin!"

Starfire rushes over to where Robin is sprawled on the floor. From where Raven stands she can see the blood pooling around his head.

Red-X takes a step in his direction and Raven instinctively blocks his path. No way she's letting him get anywhere near Robin when he's down.

She uses a shadow to come at him from the side but he sees it coming and rolls clear of it. The dance begins anew, this time with only Raven left to attack.

Red-X blocks everything she throws at him but his counter attacks become somewhat . . . not erratic, but disjointed. Like he's not even paying attention to what's in front of him.

He's still trying to get to where Robin and Starfire are. Raven blocks his path for a fourth time in their scuffle and says, "Kicking someone while their down is a cheap shot Red-X, and a stupid one when you've still got one Titan standing in your way."

She tries to get him with a roundhouse kick but he steps closer, catching her foot. He tries to pull her off balance but she lifts off the ground, flying out of his grasp.

When she settles back into her fighting stance he says to her, "Come on Sunshine, you're a healer, right? I'm not your biggest concern right now!"

"You don't get to tell me what my concerns are," she growls.

Yes, she's worried for Robin, but Starfire can handle it. Right now, she needs to make sure Red-X doesn't get away because Robin will be pissed to find out he got away again.

"My God you're stubborn. Fine, fine. Here!" Red-X tosses her the bag of stolen goods. "I'm leaving, take care of Dick. Unless you'd rather follow me."

It's then Raven realizes his emotions are going haywire, a big one at play is something she had yet to ever feel from Red-X: concern.

He turns and leaps off the roof. Raven blinks, dumbfounded.

Peering into the bag she finds it is indeed full of the jewelry he stole which leaves her to wonder if she just hallucinated Red-X willingly handing it over.

"Raven," Starfire calls. "we must get him medical attention!"

Raven teleports Robin, Starfire, and herself to the tower, right into the infirmary. Between the both of them they manage to get him onto the bed and Raven immediately seals the gash on the back of his head.

"I'll go back for Cyborg and Beastboy. I stopped the bleeding but we'll need Cyborg to check if he has a concussion."

She goes back to the roof, opening a portal beneath a still trapped Beastboy. He falls through with a yelp, landing in the infirmary with Star.

Cyborg's energy signature is easy to find as well. When he lost them he figured he might as well return to the scene of the crime to do some analysis and calm the people down.

"Cyborg, we have to go."

"Catch him?"

"No," she admits.

"Yeah, didn't think so."

She opens a portal for them and as they walk through she tells him, "We have what he stole, but Robin hit his head during the fight."

They step into the infirmary and the portal shuts behind them. Cyborg gets to work checking all of Robins vitals and Starfire uses her eye beams to burn away the goo wrapped around Beastboy.

Raven frowns, sensing a presence that doesn't belong. She walks over to the window and shuts the blinds.

With everyone busy in their tasks Raven walks out of the infirmary and teleports outside into mid air, right outside the room her friends are in.

"Did you think you wouldn't be caught trying to scale the side of the most well protected building in Jump?"

For a man hanging off a thirteen story window, Red-X seems remarkably unfazed by being caught. He swings around so his body is facing out instead of in, his spider-like grip on the windowsill stays true.

"You'd be surprised how many times I've done this. You might want to fire Cyborg, his security is a cakewalk."

"You're not here for the jewery you stole. As I'm sure you can guess, I didn't tuck them under Robin's pillow."

Reflecting on their encounter just a few minutes ago, she puts pieces of a puzzle together. She tilts her head. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were worried about him."

"I'm a theif toots, not a murderer," he says, back to his usual self. "I came to make sure my reputation wasn't tarnished."

It's almost like he never lost his composure out there on the roof--except he _did_, and Raven knows why.

She hovers closer, trying to imagine a face beneath that mask. "You called him Dick."

Red-X usually has a firm lock on his emotions as some people tend to do, but nothing can hide the slight stiffening of his shoulders. To his credit, he plays it off well.

"Because he's a dick, Sunshine."

"You can't lie to an empath." She shakes her head, trying to make sense of him. "You know Robin . . . You _love_ him."

"You got me. I'm a fangirl," he quips. "It's the green kevlar that does me in."

It's not that kind of love. This love is strong and runs deep. He's bonded to Robin somehow.

"Fine, leave. Doesn't matter anymore."

"What do you mean?"

She rolls her eyes and explains like she would to a child, "Well when Robin wakes up I am obviously going to tell him everything that's happened. How you handed over that bag of jewels just so I would go help him. How you called him by name. Not many people know both his identities but if you do then it won't take him long to figure out who you are."

She opens a portal and flies through. Red-X calls out to her but she ignores him which proves to be a mistake because he leaps off the building and falls through the portal with her, both of them landing on the floor of her room.

"Wait, just wait." Red-X puts a hand over her mouth. "You can't tell him. He's relentless. Like a dog with a bone. And really, nothing that's happened is worth loosing any sleep over. Robin's going to be fine and you got back what I stole."

She glares at him, shoving him off her. He rolls and stands, keeping his hands up to show he's not going to attack her. "You know how obsessive he gets. It's unhealthy, really."

Red-X has never said this many words to her. Maybe he makes a valid point but all she hears are his attempts to cover his own ass.

"If you tell him about today, he'll never stop looking for me."

She brushes off her cloak. "Then you better start running."


	2. Suspicions

**TWO****Suspicions**

Robin has been locked inside his room going on four days now and hasn't come out for anything.

His obsessive personality is something the titans have seen before so without much change in their personal schedules they have taken to leaving meals outside his door and when they return it's sitting there, food eaten.

Raven is carrying the latest meal he missed but instead of leaving the food at the door like her friends did, she knocks. "It's Raven. I have food."

There's a pause then the door slides open, revealing a haggard looking Robin. It looks like he's been sleeping in his uniform and isn't even wearing his mask--a big surprise since she's the only one in the tower who actually knows his civilian identity.

He takes the tray and mutters a thank you. He turns and plops himself down on the bed, leaving the door open as an invitation.

She shuts the door behind herself. Robin's worry is floating throughout the tower but in here more so. She stays beside the door not knowing how this worry is effecting him.

Sometimes he gets broody like his mentor Bruce. Other times he gets frantic and obsessive.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks cautiously.

Robin shakes his head.

Broody it is.

Raven goes over to his chair and sits, turning her attention to his cluttered desk. He's always been disorganized in his personal space but the desk is now a mountain of open files and uncapped pens.

"I'm going to meditate in here," she decides, turning her back to the desk. "Beastboy is being insufferable again."

He doesn't protest so she pulls her legs up and closes her eyes. She hears Robin fidget but he says nothing. For a half hour the only sound is their breathing.

"Can you look in my head?"

Raven opens her eyes and finds Robin has moved and is now crouched down in front of the chair, looking up at her earnestly.

"I think I'm going crazy."

"You're not," she assures, "You are under a lot of mental stress but your emotions are not chaotic like they were when you were exposed to Slade's mask."

"If I know something that can't possibly be true, doesn't that mean I'm crazy?"

"That depends on how sure you are of what you know."

"Not very. I mean, I can feel it's true, but I have no proof, no reason to even point me in this direction except my gut feeling."

Raven lifts a shoulder. "I really can't help you unless you tell me what's going on. What I _can_ tell you though, is you have remarkable instincts for a human. Your gut feeling has always been good enough for me."

Robin seems to loose all his energy, dropping down complete so he's sitting on the floor. Raven hops out of the chair and sits in front of him, shocked to see tears in his eyes.

"I know who Red-X is."

Raven pauses. They haven't heard a thing about Red-X in a while. She can't imagine what would have brought him to mind, or what new information could ever lead to the man's identity.

"Okay," she says. "But why is that a problem?"

"He's my brother," Robin whispers. "It's Jason, I know it is."

Raven wonders if maybe she was too quick to tell him he wasn't going a little crazy. "Your brother is dead."

"We never found his body."

The ernest she sees in his eyes tells her she's not going to be able to convince him of anything without proof. "Then let's prove it. Do not spiral until we're sure, okay?"

"Yeah that's what I've been doing, trying to figure out a way to prove it. I didn't want to tell anyone because they'd think I was insane, I still think I might be."

"First we find him."

"We can't put in more time trying to track him down. It'll make him suspicious since he hasn't committed any recent crimes."

"He's a criminal, it's our job to catch criminals."

"Trust me, he's beyond paranoid."

"So what, you want to wait around until he pops up again?"

"Yes."

"And when he finally does show, how are we going to confirm? He won't take off his mask because you ask him to and as soon as he realizes what we're up to, he'll bolt."

"I'll call him by name," he says. Raven raises an eyebrow but Robin lifts a hand to stop her response. "I call his name, and you can see if there's a spike of emotions or something."

Raven nods. "I can do that. And I'm assuming you won't want the others around when this happens."

"We'll figure out a way to get him alone when the time comes."

"Okay, now in the meantime, take a shower."

Robin laughs, "Okay. And thanks Raven."

The time doesn't come for another two months. Robin and Raven never mention the conversation they had or acknowledge it in any way.

When the crime alert comes in and Cyborg confirms the criminal is Red-X, the pair share a single look before everyone springs into action.

Surprise surprise, they find themselves in the bad part of town after giving chase but loosing sight of Red-X.

"Everyone split up, we don't know which ways he's gone."

"Robin?" Raven says, asking a silent question as the other three hurry to do as he says.

He nods. "We split up too."

They keep their cons on. Starfire is the first to confirm he's not in the alley. Cyborg tells them he isnt getting any heat signatures from inside a building he might have gone into.

Raven is scouring the main street when she sees someone jumping from fire escape to fire escape.

"I've got eyes on him," she says. "He's head east."

"Wait for us," Cyborg tells her. "You can't take him on alone."

"No," Robin counters. If you let him slip there's no telling when we'll see him again. Hold him there until we arrive. I have to know."

Raven nods and clicks her communicator off, soaring over to Red-X and catching him in a giant black fist right as he jumps from the fire escape.

"I was worried this was going to be too easy. It's always more fun when I get in a good fight."

Raven crosses her arms. "This doesn't look like a fight to me."

"Well of course I'm not going to fight you, that would be too easy. Where is Robin, now he's great practice for me."

"Hang tight," she tells him flatly. "He's on his way."

"Hm."

If she could see his face, she gets the impression he would be squinting at her.

"Why not just arrest me?"

"We will," she promises, "But Robin's got something important he wants to ask you first."

"See, I don't know if that's going to work for me. I'm all for a good fist fight but questions are taboo in my line of work."

"You don't have much choice right now."

"You do magic, right? I dabble. Want to see me disappear?"

His hand goes for his belt and with the press of a button he teleports away but not before Raven latches onto his mind's signature.

She smiles when she sense his presence half way across town. She closes her eyes and focuses on him. He's on foot, half jogging down some street.

Making an educated guess to where he's going to turn, Raven opens a portal to her chosen location.

As he draws closer Raven adjusts her cloak and leans against the wall, waiting. By the time he turns onto this street he's no longer jogging but walking with the confidence of a man who got away with a crime.

He's only feet away from where she is before he notices her. He stops in his tracks and although she can sense his shock at her having found him, he doesn't show it.

"Can't get enough of me?"

She ignores his question and instead says very clearly and slowly, "Jason. Peter. Todd."

His fear hits her like a brick wall, and it's all the confirmation she needs.

"What did you say?" he demands.

She knows trouble when she sees it. Red-X isn't likely to go easy on her now. He can beat her, she knows. So when he starts sprinting towards her, it's her turn for a disappearing act.

She melts through the wall behind her and uses their bond to locate Robin and teleports to him.

He has joined up with the other titans but breaks away from them when he sees her. "Well?" he whispers.

She doesn't know which news would be worse; that his brother is still dead or that the man he's spent the last year hating _is_ his brother.

"It's him," she confirms.


End file.
